A roaring fire in a commercial building pushed flames and huge columns of gray and white smoke into the early morning air over Long Island City this morning.

The warehouse blaze at 50-10 27th Street in Queens, went to three alarms at about 6:30 a.m. officials said.

West-bound traffic on the Long Island Expressway was shut down as firefighters amassed in the area to try to battle the inferno from the ground and from the air with ladder hoses. Traffic was backed up past the BQE. The Midtown tunnel inbound to Manhattan was also closed temporarily.